S-Vove-r,  J3  •  D .  ^ 

CHILD  LIFE  IN  WEST  CENTRAL 
AFRICA.  ^ 

MRS.  BERTHA  D.  STOVER. 

the  African  child  opens  his  eyes 
to  the  light  of  this  world,  he  finds 
no  soft  garments  awaiting  him — only  a 
bed  of  leaves  or  a  reed  mat  on  the  earth 
floor,  by  the  side  of  a  smoking  fire.  After 
an  excuse  for  a  bath,  his  tiny  mouth  is 
filled  and  refilled  with  corn  meal  gruel, 
made  with  sweet  beer.  And  this  is  con¬ 
tinued  till  he  is  old  enough  to  eat  mush. 
Sometimes,  when  a  little  one’s  skull  is 
soft  and  open,  a  plaster  made  of  red  clay, 
charcoal,  oil  and  hen’s  feathers  is  stuck 
on  the  top  of  the  cranium,  where  it  re¬ 
mains  till  the  hair  grows  and  lifts  it  up. 

The  child  is  not  supposed  to  wear  any 
clothing  till  three  or  four  years  of  age, 
and  then  a  half  yard  is  quite  sufficient. 

When  the  baby  is  two  or  three  days  old  it 
is  tied  on  the  back  of  its  mother  or  some 
child,  the  little  legs  spread  apart  so  the 
feet  will  reach  around  the  hips,  and  with 
a  cloth  drawu  tightly  over  its  body,  its 


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little  head  is  left  to  dangle.  The  face  is 
rarely  ever  washed  and  the  flies  fill  its 
mouth  and  eyes.  And  often  the  whole 
body  is  covered  with  filthy  sores.  All 
weakly  children  die  early.  Indeed  it  is  a 
source  of  wonderment  to  us  that  one  ever 
recovers  from  a  fit  of  sickness. 

As  a  rule  children  are  not  abused.  They 
have  enough  to  eat  (except  in  cases  of  dis¬ 
cipline — which  are  rare — when  food  is 
withheld  as  a  punishment)  and  are  allowed 
to  do  much  as  they  please,  and  wallow  in 
the  dirt  with  the  pigs  and  chickens.  But 
sometimes  if  a  mother  dies  and  her  little 
ones  have  no  older  sister  or  aunts,  they 
suffer  with  hunger  and  are  cuffed  and 
scolded  by  the  other  wives  of  their  father. 

As  soon  as  a  girl  is  old  enough  to  be 
useful,  her  life-work  begins,  i.  e.  carrying 
a  basket  on  her  head  and  a  baby  on  her 
back.  Their  chief  amusements  are  imi¬ 
tating  their  mother's  work.  They  pound 
up  dirt  instead  of  corn,  make  clay  pots 
and  tie  an  ear  of  corn  on  the  back  instead 
of  a  doll.  The  boys  make  pop-guns, 
bows  and  arrows,  and  spend  much  time 
fishing  and  hunting.  They  play  several 
games  not  unlike  those  played  by  school 
children  in  my  day. 

So  far,  yon  do  not  think  their  lives  can 


A  Christian  Home  and  Family. 


WEST  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 


be  very  dark,  do  you?  But  thus  far  you 
have  seen  only  the  fairest  side  of  it.  What 
is  the  other  side? 

Utterly  void  of  everything  good  and 
pure.  They  are  not  only  from  the  earliest 
age  taught  to  lie  and  steal,  but  mothers 
and  grandmothers  teach  theii  little  boys 
practices  too  vile  to  mention.  Their  lit¬ 
tle  hearts  are  ruled  by  fear,  not  love.  If 
they  hear  a  bird  cry  at  night,  they  believe 
it  an  evil  spirit.  If  they  are  ill,  some  one 
has  bewitched  them.  They  dare  not  go 
out  in  the  woods  alone  for  fear  some  one 
will  catch  them.  If  the  father  becomes 
angrv,  his  first  act  is  to  threaten  to  shoot 
them,  and  they  must  keep  in  hiding  till 
his  anger  has  cooled  off. 

Their  father  has  no  more  claim  or  con¬ 
trol  over  them  than  any  stranger.  They 
are  subject  to  the  caprice  of  their  mother’s 
brothers  who  may  sell  them  for  a  debt  at 
any  time.  No  matter  what  cruel  deed  is 
being  done,  nothing  is  kept  from  the 
children.  They  see  and  hear  things  which 
you,  my  friends,  never  dreamed  of. 

When  a  little  boy  is  ten  years  old — or 
old  enough  to  carry  a  load — his  real  hard¬ 
ships  begin.  He  must  accompany  his 
master  or  relatives  on  long  journeys,  carry¬ 
ing  his  meals,  tramping  through  the  hot 


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sun  day  after  day,  sleeping  out  of  doors 
in  the  cold  and  wet.  When  his  little  legs 
become  stifE  and  swollen  and  refuse  to 
carry  him  farther,  nine  chances  ont  of  ten 
he  is  knocked  in  the  head  and  left  for  the 
hyenas  to  devour. 

The  girl  must  have  her  body  tattooed  in 
various  designs — a  most  painful  operation. 
The  skin  is  pricked  with  needles  and  the 
juice  of  an  herb  injected,  which  leaves 
raised  scars.  Her  chief  education  is  that 
she  must  marry  and  bear  children.  Little 
girls  of  eight  and  ten  years  are  often  en¬ 
gaged  to  old  men,  but  seldom  are  married 
younger  than  sixteen  or  seventeen.  Young 
men  rarely  marry  younger  than  twenty. 

One  of  the  saddest  things  about  child- 
life  here  is  that  there  is  nothing  in  pros¬ 
pect  for  the  child  but  to  grow  to  be  what 
his  father  and  his  grand-father  were  be¬ 
fore  him.  And  Oh!  the  anxiety  we  feel  to 
get  hold  of  these  little  ones  and  teach 
them  better  things  before  their  hearts  be¬ 
come  hardened  in  sin.  Our  work  is  more 
directly  with  and  for  the  young.  Circum¬ 
stances  have  made  it  so  in  a  measure, 
though  we  do  all  we  can  for  the  older  peo¬ 
ple.  But  if  you  could  realize  the  differ¬ 
ent  lives  the  children  of  our  Christians 
live — the  different  atmosphere  they  are 


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brought  np  in!  And  those  who  live  at  the 
villages  are  wise  in  bringing  their  little 
folks  to  the  mission  compound  to  stay 
while  their  mothers  are  absent  in  the 
fields. 

This  little  anecdote  will  speak'  for  it¬ 
self. 

Our  Cato  has  a  little  daughter  four 
years  old — very  shy  and  quiet.  One  day 
her  mother  asked  her,  ‘'Rebecca,  where  is 
Jesus?” 

“In  Heaven.” 

“And  who  is  with  Him  there?” 

“May;  and  May  is  all  beautiful,  beauti¬ 
ful.”  (May  is  my  little  lamb,  safe  in  the 
upper  fold.) 

“Do  you  wish  to  go  and  live  with  May?” 

“I  can’t,  for  I  have  sins.  Dora  (her 
baby  sister)  has  no  sin  for  she  is  a  baby, 
but  I  am  older  and  I  have  sins.” 

“Where  are  your  sins,”  asked  her 
mother. 

“In  my  heart.”  “Have  I  sins?”  again 
she  asked,  “0  yes,  and  so  has  father.” 

Her  mother  said  in  repeating  the  con¬ 
versation  to  me,  “Where  did  she  learn  all 
that?  I  have  never  taught  her — such  a 
child!” 

I  told  the  mother  she  must  understand 

that  now  is  the  time  to  teach  her  the 


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truths— that  the  Catholics  say  “Give  me 
a  child  till  seven  years  of  age.  and  you 
may  have  him  afterwards.”  Rebecca  says 
little,  but  she  hears  and  understands  much 
more  than  her  elders  realize.  How  von 
would  enjoy  hearing  these  little  tots  sing! 
It  is  worth  living  in  Africa  just  to  feel 
that  in  these  children  is  dawning  a  new 
era.  May  God  own  and  bless  His  work! 


They  are  coming  from  the  dark  Soudan 
That  lies  by  the  Niger's  shore, 

And  the  glory  of  the  Sou  of  man 
O’er  its  hills  and  plains  shall  pour. 

Land  of  deepest,  darkest  heathen  night.. 
Thou  shalt  yet  be  called  the  Land  of  Light, 
And  in  that  Millennial  morn  so  bright, 
Africa's  sons  at  last  shall  weep  no  more. 

— Selected. 

All  the  ends  of  the  world  shall  remember  and 
turn  unto  the  Lord:  and  all  the  kindreds  of  the 
nations  shall  worship  before  thee. 

— Psalms  xxii.  27. 


The  Womans  Board  of  Missions  of  the  I nlerioi , 
Boom  O03,  59  Dearborn  St.,  Chicago, 


